Southern Baptists elect Black Preacher as their counter to U.S. Civil Rights leadership
CHICAGO TRIBUNE
By Rueters
LOUISIANA - The largest U.S. Protestant denomination chose its first black president on Tuesday, an historic election for the predominately white religious group as it seeks to better reflect the diversity of the country and its membership. Fred Luter, a New Orleans pastor and civic leader, ran unopposed for the top post in the 167-year-old Southern Baptist Convention, which counts a growing number of minorities among its 16 million members. The convention was founded in 1845 after Southern Baptists split from the First Baptist Church in America in the pre-Civil War days over slave ownership. [link]
By Rueters
LOUISIANA - The largest U.S. Protestant denomination chose its first black president on Tuesday, an historic election for the predominately white religious group as it seeks to better reflect the diversity of the country and its membership. Fred Luter, a New Orleans pastor and civic leader, ran unopposed for the top post in the 167-year-old Southern Baptist Convention, which counts a growing number of minorities among its 16 million members. The convention was founded in 1845 after Southern Baptists split from the First Baptist Church in America in the pre-Civil War days over slave ownership. [link]
Comments
According to The Atlanta Journal Constitution:
http://www.ajc.com/lifestyle/southern-baptists-debate-gay-1460135.html
The resolution up for a vote at the denomination's annual meeting in New Orleans affirms Southern Baptists' beliefs that marriage is "the exclusive union of one man and one woman" and that "all sexual behavior outside of marriage is sinful."
The second resolution to be considered is equally anti-gay but framed as an issue of religious liberty:
"It includes a call for the U.S. Justice Department to cease efforts to overturn the Defense of Marriage Act and for the Obama administration to ensure that military personnel and chaplains can freely express their religious convictions about homosexuality."
Kudos to the Southern Baptists who just weeks after coming underfire for racist remarks by a leading official now have put a Black man in the position of spokesperson to help deflect accusations of bigotry. May it serve them as well as the Republican Party's last such attempt when they elected Michael Steele as their national chair.